The Evansville Police Department will soon receive about 300 naloxone kits -- enough for each officer on the force to have one.

The overdose reversal drug -- often referred to by the brand name Narcan -- will be paid for by for by Overdose-Lifeline Inc., a nonprofit organization started by an Indianapolis mother in 2014 whose 20-year-old son died of a heroin overdose.

Justin Phillips, the group's founder, confirmed that she received an application from the Evansville Police Department after giving a presentation about the need to get more first responders carrying the antidote at a conference in Indianapolis put on last week by the Indiana Attorney General's Office.

She told the Courier & Press on Tuesday that she's prepared to provide the 300 kits after officers go through a training session. That has not been scheduled yet, she said, but she hoped that could be done sometime next month. Her group received a $400,000 grant from the the Indiana Attorney General’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force earlier this month to continue distributing Narcan to first responders.

Unlike Indianapolis and other parts of the state that started seeing heroin re-emerge at the start of the decade, the illicit opioid wasn't prevalent in Southwestern Indiana until recently. But there were six Evansville deaths in 2015 blamed on heroin, and this year that number has already more than tripled. In addition, deaths blamed on prescription pills have been high for several years here in Vanderburgh County. Many current heroin users are people who got hooked on prescription opioid pain pills but switched to heroin because it's cheaper or easier to get in many places than medication.

Phillips urged every sector of the local community to get involved in trying to find solutions to combat the rise of heroin.

"There's needs to be community-wide conversation -- everyone willing to talk about it and acknowledge that there is a problem," she said. "When we don't acknowledged a problem it doesn't make it go away. It just makes it difficult to garner resources."

Phillips pushed for a parent advocate to be at the forefront of such an effort to try to expand such efforts. Though she acknowledged it's often difficult for some parents or other family members to do so, she recalled how much doing so has helped her, as well as others. She said she is thankful for the friends she has made through her advocacy.

"When we share our story, it helps us," Phillips said. "There is a saying that we are only as sick as the secrets we keep' and, 'a problem shared is half a problem' and those kinds of things. Those are really true."

A handful of Evansville Police Department officers have been carrying Narcan since 2015. That is when Congregations Acting for Justice and Empowerment, an alliance of local faith groups, pushed for law enforcement to carry the antidote. Members of the police department's narcotics unit were also given Narcan recently to combat the spike in overdoses.

Ambulances in both Warrick and Vanderburgh County have been stocked with Narcan since the 1980s. Because of CAJE's efforts then, both sheriff's offices in Warrick and Vanderburgh County got Narcan for their deputies as well.

Before Phillips made her announcement, Evansville police Sgt. Trudy Day called getting Narcan for every officer the "ideal outcome," of the department's inquiry, though she was not expecting the group to award the department so many kits. Day prepared Evansville's application to Overdose Lifeline Inc., and said she learned a lot about the rising need for Narcan here in Southwestern Indiana.

"There is nothing worse as a first responder than to be standing by and waiting for someone else when you know that if you had a tool, you could immediately help that person. That's one of our biggest frustration," Day said. "Minutes certainly count when you're dealing with an OD."

Heroin is a particularly deadly drug, since any hit can be lethal. In addition, not knowing what exactly is in each dose -- whether the drug has been cut by another substance -- adds to its uncertainly. Using her son as an example, Phillips preached that most users don't want to be dependent on the drug anymore, but that the addiction is strong.

Aaron Sims, who died in 2013, is the inspiration behind Indiana's"Aaron's Law,' which expanded access to Narcan to anyone who wants the reversal drug because they believe someone close to them is at risk for an overdose.

"He didn't want to die. He didn't want to be addicted to heroin," Phillips said when asked about her late son. "(Using) crosses a line where it's no longer a choice. He was the sweetest, most sensitive young man with a humongous heart of gold."